I have just earlier received my Alvin Mark V, and have been doing some digging about what it could potentially be, as I could not find any information about this specific model anywhere online.
I immediately recognized the style of the body to be similar to those found on the vintage Fedra lead holders out of Germany, though I hadn’t seen any Fedra pencils before which had a knocking clutch mechanism and holding a 0.5mm diameter lead.
But when I was looking into 0.5mm Fedras, I came across these pictures:
A rather obscure, hard-to-find model of Fedra called the SUPERFINE, in 0.5mm!
The body and tip were almost exactly the same, though the rear knocking area was a bit different. However, this lends pretty strong evidence for my intuition that the Alvin is a re-badged Fedra from the same era as the SUPERFINE.
Now for my request to anyone who has read on thus far:
If you have any more information about these pencils (whether the Fedra or the Alvin) - when they were made, whether they appeared in any catalogues, for how much they were originally sold, any pertinent information - please let me know in the replies below.
I am also now on the lookout for those Fedra SUPERFINE models, so that I may do an in-person comparison between the Fedra and the Alvin.
Thank you for reading! I hope this was of interest to you.
I have an exciting update! Right after I made the post, no less
I have heard back from a German collector by the name of Walter, from whom I had already purchased some Fedra lead holders prior. He immediately recognized the Alvin as a Fedra, and one that he owned!!! He has just 2 minutes ago sent me pictures of his own example.
I am excited to share them here:
I was immediately struck by the exact match between the two models, down even to the pattern in the styrofoam packaging!
I am in further correspondence with Walter about the year of manufacture and other details regarding the Fedra, but I am thrilled to report that I have confirmed my initial suspicions.
I am happy you’re able to find more info about this pencil. I tried for years to look it up as Alvin. Never did it occur to me that there was a link with Fedra!
Yet another interesting update: I had purchased the 1971 Alvin General Catalog K-2 for Drafting Instruments, which just came in today. Guess what I found?
I, in fact, am the one who purchased the Fedra 2007C, as well as having negotiated the purchase of the superfine from Walter. I will update with more pictures when they arrive!
